Lean Civil Construction Management: A simple guide to better operations

The reason that Varicon exists in the first place is due to my personal challenges with inefficiencies in managing civil construction operations.  Like many owners and managers of civil contracting businesses, I was often left chasing my own tail:

• I didn’t have the information I needed readily available
• When I discovered operational issues it was already too late to address them
• Getting data from the jobsite required me to physically go to site, and often that information was either wrong, incomplete or inconsistent
• I would often be duplicating the same data into different systems

This was the start of a long journey in lean civil construction for me.  The costs are real, as any business owner will know.

Introducing Lean Civil Construction Management

Lean is all about eliminating waste—any form of waste. This includes inefficient or unnecessary processes. Think about how much time your team spends on the issues listed above. That time could be better spent on tasks that generate revenue and grow your business.  However, it’s not just the time that you spend on managing processes – it’s also the waste from making the wrong decisions (or the right decisions too late) due to not having an accurate picture of your business performance.

The word “lean construction” has become one of those buzz words that gets thrown around, and it’s easy to feel like it’s another business consultant phase.  In reality, the principles are pretty simple and almost definitely you follow many lean steps unconsciously every day.  The trick is to be just a bit intentional about finding these opportunities.  The little changes you make pay off big time, as these are tasks that you do frequently.

The benefits of lean civil construction

The construction industry is notorious for waste and inefficiency.  Among the benefits you can expect from implementing lean principles are:

• Getting more done with less resources (people and equipment)
• Reducing stress levels within your team
• Making your organisation easier to manage
• Enabling you to scale your business
• Project professionalism to the market, and ultimately

Identifying waste

The first thing to do is identify waste that can be eliminated.  Don’t just think about physical waste here – waste is anything that has a cost to it that someone isn’t prepared to pay you for.

To get you started, here’s just a few examples of waste in construction.  I’m sure you can come up with many more:

• Purchasing materials before they are after (this extends time between money going out and money coming in)
• Duplicating information across systems (eg, taking timesheets and entering into payroll, site diary and cost tracking system)
• Delays in getting information (eg, paper documents being sent into office, waiting for someone to send information by email etc)
• Cost overruns identified too late (eg, crew not being run efficiently, site delays due to coordination issues etc)
• Delays in progress claim approvals due to inconsistencies in documentation

Implementing the improvement

Our goal with lean is to implement systems, processes and documentation to ensure waste is removed from your business.

Documentation ensures that your new, more efficient and less wasteful process, is understood and communicated to your team.  Ideally this documentation is displayed in prominent places near work areas.  If this is not practical, you can provide training to your team.

All the work we do is part of a workflow process.  Mapping these out will help you identify where improvements can be made.  Start with the “low hanging fruit” and continue to improve constantly.

Often these processes can be automated.  Systems, particularly software-based systems, are being utilised across all industries to replace manual effort.  When looking at systems, you can look at generic systems where you can create your own workflows, bespoke development where a software engineer builds custom software for your business, or systems designed for your industry like Varicon.

The cultural shift

Implementing lean should not just come from the top of the organisation – it’s best when you are including everyone in your business, as many of the opportunities will come from front-line workers.  You can expect to see improved engagement, better morale, better staff retention and maximal profits.

Ready to learn more?

To ensure a thriving and sustainable business, you must always be seeking to eliminate waste wherever it can be found.

Varicon has done much of this hard work for you to streamline construction processes, with the benefit of learnings across many civil construction businesses like yours.  If you want to start this lean journey in your business, reach out to the team at Varicon!